Mission & Purpose

Increase developer awareness and adoption of Mozilla products and the Open Web as a platform:

Grow a base of qualified and well-informed volunteer speakers.

Support volunteer technical evangelism efforts with training for speaking and creating presentation materials.

So that contributors can present timely, relevant technical material at regional developer events.

Program Description

Mozilla Tech Speakers is a program to bring together volunteer contributors who are already speaking to technical audiences (developers/web designers/computer science and engineering students) about Firefox, Mozilla and the Open Web in communities around the world. We want to support you and amplify your work!

As Mozilla Tech Speakers, participants have an opportunity to work on public speaking skill development with a cohort of technical contributors from many countries. Mozillians old and new, and our allies across the open web, at all levels of experience in public speaking and at different stages in their careers, are welcome to apply. Most participants are not native English speakers, but at this time you must be willing and able to communicate in English to participate in this program.

Practice and constructive feedback in a safe and friendly environment are at the heart of how we work together. We are always experimenting with the design of this program, learning from participant feedback, with the aim of being able to grow to meet the global demand for this type of training.

We are currently planning our next Tech Speaker training activities, and we will announce all news and program updates on Discourse.

Desired Outcomes

Volunteer speakers gain skill and experience as public speakers and gain access to information and funding when representing Mozilla at developer events, and at relevant regional, educational, and community-run events.

Mozilla has a global team of trained speakers to send to conferences, to host workshops, and represent the project in other technical contexts.

Speaker materials and assets become easily discoverable and accessible (content and templates).

Graduates replicate the program in their regional communities.

How It Works

Tech Speakers is a six week program supported by the Developer Relations team, part of the Emerging Technologies group. Originally, our program was by invitation only. Now we are growing the program through an application process.
Our vidyo meetings focus on group speaking practice and sharing constructive feedback. Active Tech Speakers who've completed the Tech Speakers program are expected to deliver 2 talks or workshops per quarter, in order to maintain their active status.

Each participant:

Picks a topic at the beginning of the program

Develops a talk or workshop or training on that topic over the course of the program.

Submits their talk to a conference CFP, presents at a meetup or other relevant gathering.

Applications are currently closed. We will announce any new cohorts on Discourse.

PAST WINTER 2017 SESSION

This program is designed for volunteers who are already actively involved in technical evangelism and advocacy in regional, local or campus communities. We expect you to share a video of yourself speaking on a technical topic or pitching a technical talk you'd like to deliver. We'll ask for examples of how you are already active in raising awareness and adoption of Firefox, Mozilla, and the Web through your current activities. Stay tuned!

Winter 2017: will consisted of 6 Labs sessions (1 hour each in Vidyo), on consecutive weeks, scheduled over a 6 week period beginning in early February and ending in March. (The full calendar is still a work in progress.)

The live application link is here: Tech Speakers - Winter 2017! Applications will close at midnight on Friday, December 30, 24 hours before New Year's Eve in California. (12:01am PDT December 31, 2016).

Masterclasses are expert presentations to help you develop and practice your skills as speakers, trainers, and facilitators for technical audiences.

Masterclasses will be live-streamed on Air Mozilla and will be available to logged in participants to watch in real time or asynchronously. Each Masterclass will includes practice exercises and homework assignments. Some of the practice and homework will take place in your Lab, some of it you’ll do on your own and bring to your Lab or submit via a form.

For example, the Masterclass about writing a strong talk proposal may include a homework assignment where you identify a relevant conference and write a CFP and bio.

A Masterclass about the physical aspects of presenting may ask you to record a short video of yourself standing and presenting.

Labs are small group meetings that happen in Vidyo or via Google Hangouts during alternating weeks, facilitated by current Tech Speakers and Tech Speaker staff.

You will be ‘assigned” a Labs group based on your timezone and availability. We expect you to attend all the Masterclasses and complete all assigned Labs homework in order to qualify as a Tech Speaker and be eligible for funding and other perks.

We expect you to attend all the Labs sessions - if you miss more than one Lab, you will not be eligible to ‘graduate’ as a Tech Speaker.

If you are planning to go on offline or on holiday in February-March, you might want to wait till we offer this session again. Expect to spend a minimum of 3-4 hours weekly to attend sessions and complete assignments.

Mozilla Tech Speakers

This is a partial list of people who have completed the Tech Speakers program. If you completed one of the Tech Speaker cohort trainings, you are welcome to add yourself and a link to your Reps or Mozillians page, or other relevant profile or contact info.

Program refinements from pilot results are implemented and communicated

Pilot Program

Description

Work with Mozilla Reps to select five participants

The selected participants help work out the kinks - refine criteria, identify mentorship needs

Outcomes

Set of program refinements required to be implemented prior to official launch

Phase 2/Summer 2016 Pilot: MasterClasses & Labs for Tech Speakers

For Phase 2 of the Tech Speakers program, we are seeking ~25-30 contributors already actively involved in technical evangelism and advocacy in regional, local or campus communities. We'll expect you to show us examples of how you are raising awareness and adoption of Firefox, Mozilla, and the Web through your current activities. We will be opening an application process in November for the next session starting in Q1 2017! Stay tuned!

Phase 2 Summer Pilot: consisted of 3 Masterclasses (~ 1 hour on Air Mozilla) and 3 Labs sessions (1 hour in Vidyo), on alternating weeks, scheduled over a 2 month period, beginning in July and ending in late August. (The full calendar is still a work in progress.)

Here is the live application: Tech Speakers Phase 2 - Summer 2016! Applications will close at the close of July 4 (12:01am PDT July 5, 2016). Please include a recommendation letter.

Masterclasses are expert presentations to help you develop and practice your skills as speakers, trainers, and facilitators for technical audiences.

Masterclasses will be live-streamed on Air Mozilla and will be available to logged in participants to watch in real time or asynchronously. Each Masterclass includes practice exercises and homework assignments. Some of the practice and homework will take place in your Lab, some of it you’ll do on your own.

For example, the Masterclass about writing a strong talk proposal may include a homework assignment where you find a conference and write a CFP and bio.

A masterclass about the physical aspects of presenting may ask you to record a short video of yourself standing and presenting.

Labs are small group meetings that happen in Vidyo or via Google Hangouts during alternating weeks, facilitated by current Tech Speakers and Tech Speaker staff. You will be ‘assigned” a Labs group based on your timezone and availability. We expect you to attend all the Masterclasses and complete all assigned Labs homework in order to qualify as a Tech Speaker and be eligible for funding and other perks. We expect you to attend all the Labs sessions - if you miss more than one Lab, you will not be eligible to ‘graduate’ as a Tech Speaker.

If you are planning to go on offline or on holiday for several weeks in July or August, you might want to wait till we offer this session again. Expect to spend 2-3 hours weekly to attend sessions and complete assignments.